Scotland to get 100 pct green energy by 2025

Reuters Staff

2 Min Read

LONDON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Scotland should produce enough renewable electricity to meet all its power demand by 2025, First Minister Alex Salmond said on Tuesday.

“Scotland has unrivalled green energy resources and our new national target to generate 80 percent of electricity needs from renewables by 2020 will be exceeded by delivering current plans for wind, wave and tidal generation,” Salmond said.

“I‘m confident that by 2025 we will produce at least 100 percent of our electricity needs from renewables alone, and together with other sources it will enable us to become a net exporter of clean, green energy,” he said a statement ahead of a renewable energy investment conference.

Last week, Scotland raised its 2020 renewable electricity target from 50 to 80 percent of total demand, much of which is expected to be met by offshore wind despite costs soaring over the last few years. [ID:nLDE68Q17H]

The sparsely-populated part of northern Britain is expected to export much of the low-carbon electricity produced by its existing onshore wind farms and planned offshore projects south to England, which has lagged behind most of Europe in green energy growth.

The Scottish government has ruled out building new nuclear plants north of the border with England, while the British government in London hopes new reactors will run alongside wind and marine energy technologies. (Reporting by Daniel Fineren)